The Best Gifts To Make A New Mum Feel Human Again

March 12, 2015

When you have your first (or second… oh my, witness the cuteness) baby you are completely inundated with presents. Birth is such a special time and this always resonates massively with pretty much every single person who knows you – you find yourself inundated with cards, bunches of flowers, soft toys, babygros and teeny tiny outfits, all sent with so much love and squeals of delight at the new baby.

I was no different. I remember my house was literally full to bursting with all manner of gorgeous presents and it was just wonderful that my family and friends were so very thoughtful to appreciate my new baby when she (and he!) was born but to be honest I was so knackered I didn’t quite process it at the time. Having been in labour for ages (four days with Hux… four days!!) and spending the subsequent nights breastfeeding a newborn baby I was completely high on sleep deprivation and hormones. The teeny tiny outfits were worn a couple of times and photographed to death but soon grown out of, the beautiful displays of flowers lasted a few days, the cards soon came down and before long we were back to normal. Well, not totally normal. I’m still waiting for my full 8 hours. Any day now, right?!

All those hormones and lack of sleep meant that as soon as motherhood was upon me I could see it in my face. I saw wrinkles, eye bags and an uneven skin tone… in short, not only did I feel knackered but I felt a bit ugly as well. My face seemed to lose its youthful radiance and even tone overnight thanks to being woken every two hours, and most importantly this tiredness meant I didn’t see it as an important time to take care of how I looked.

I WAS WRONG.

Re-discovering your identity as a new mum is one thing that really takes it out of you. I can’t tell you how important it is to make sure you look after yourself as much as possible at this time – and it’s one thing I neglected. Well, I’m happy to tell you that this is no longer the case, I’m all about the self-love these days and I think it’s important to help my friends to give themselves as much TLC as they can when they have new babies.

Which is why I’ve discarded the teddy bear gifts, rejected the teeny tiny BabyGap outfits and thrown out the supercool onesies. From now on I am giving my new mum friends the gift of a new face when they give birth; I’m gifting them the same products that helped me re-juvinate my skin and in turn my mind when I first became a mum, all from the geniuses behind Sanctuary Spa:

Facial Oil

Listen up: I firmly believe that facial oil is my number one favourite thing about my evening skincare regime. I’ve been using this particular product – Sanctuary’s Therapist’s Secret Facial Oil (£17.50) – for three weeks now and have no less than four compliments on how good my skin looks. FOUR. And I hardly ever think that someone’s skin looks good enough to compliment so I think it must be doing something very right.

I apply this post-cleanse and tone and pre-night cream and literally wouldn’t be without it. In fact I still remember the time Elfie topped up my facial oil with the tap aged 2; there were tears (mine not hers) and I’ve only just forgiven her (hahah only kidding, I still haven’t forgiven her). If you buy one product for either you or a friend this month please make it this – you will not be disappointed.

Night & Day Cream

I have combination skin that seems to have different moods at different times of the day. It’s thirsty during the evening which is when I adore coating myself in overnight potions to make my face plump and radiant by morning but just requires a small bit of priming pre-makeup when I’m getting ready for the day.

These two products – Sanctuary’s Peptide Protect Day Cream (£20) and Night Concentrate (£15.50) – work completely in sync for these times, providing the exact amount of moisture when and wherever I need it. The day cream really does seem to create a look of radiance too, no idea how but probably something extremely sciency. SPF is included as well which is fabulous for the times I brave the barefaced look (more and more common nowadays!).

Facial In A Box

I firmly believe there is no bigger treat you can give yourself than a night in your bathroom with a steaming hot bath and a DIY facial. This Brightening Facial In A Box (£16.50) is the perfect accompaniment for nights like this – it contains everything you need to give yourself that spa glow at home. I was so impressed with the glowy skin I had as a result that I took an awkward selfie: I will definitely be re-enacting this facial when I’m next in need of a lift.

Relaxation Products
You don’t think I can get through a whole blog post without mentioning scented candles, do you?! NEVER!

I find I need some pretty solid bathroom products for these lovely long soaks I’m taking and this Bath Soak and Scented Candle hit the spot perfectly. The scent of the Calming Luxury Bath Soak (£10) and Daydream Candle (£15) are the same and they work beautifully to help prepare and relax my mind before getting an early night.

Sanctuary have handily put together some time-saving beauty tips that are perfect for new mums – I had Brazilian Blow Drys on the regular when I had newborns and it made ALL the difference.

What was your favourite gift as a new mum?

Thank you so much for The Sanctuary for sponsoring MTT and sending me these products for the purpose of review. I really do love to use them and wouldn’t write about them otherwise – now go get glowing skin!

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I love those Sanctuary products, I think they make you feel really pampered. I try to use the Facial Oil at night but I’m not great at remembering. My new mum essentials include hand-cream (to combat dryness after all that nappy changing hand washing!) and lip balm as I found G&A really drying.

This is a very wise post. I was so knackered as a new mum that I didn’t even think to moisturise/wash my hair/apply mascara, and now when I look back at photos of me and the baby, I hate them because I look so unlike myself. But then again, I have no idea how I would have found the time for a skincare routine when I could barely find time to pee! x

I really really need to get better with my skincare routine, I’m so lazy with it and use super cheap products at the moment but now I’m over 30 and can see crows lines appearing I need to sort it out. I don’t even get ID’ed for alcohol anymore. Sob x